Bengal Votes In 2 Phases Instead Of 8 Like 2021, Results On May 4

The high-voltage election in West Bengal will be held in two phases, on April 23 and April 29, and the counting of votes will take place on May 4. 

The Election Commission today announced dates for Assembly polls in Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and the Union Territory of Puducherry. While all the other polls will be held in a single phase, the Bengal election is spread across two phases. In the last election, the state voted over eight phases, and the polling stretched to over a month.

From Eight Phases To Two

Bengal voted in eight phases during the 2021 Assembly polls, held amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The first phase of polling took place on March 27, and the last on April 29. Leaders of several political parties, it is learnt, told the Election Commission officials this time that the polls should be held in two or three phases. They told the officials that a prolonged schedule jacks up election expenses and also reduces public spirit about the voting exercise.

One rationale behind holding polls in multiple phases is that this makes the deployment of central forces easier. Bengal has witnessed incidents of political violence and loss of lives during earlier elections. But this time, parties have argued that a large number of central forces are already stationed in the state, making a prolonged election unnecessary.

Mamata Banerjee Eyes Fourth Term

The Trinamool Congress chief, who trounced the mighty Left regime in Bengal in the 2011 Assembly polls, is now eyeing a fourth term as Chief Minister. The 71-year-old firebrand leader faces anti-incumbency due to her long rule, but remains the tallest political leader in the state, with mass appeal unmatched by anyone in her rival camps.

Her government's social welfare schemes, particularly those for women, have created a loyal support base that backs her in every election. Mamata Banerjee is expected to build her campaign around Bengali identity and project the Centre as anti-Bengal. The SIR, alleged misuse of central agencies and attempts to paint the BJP as an "outsider" will feature prominently in her political attacks.

Racing to beat the model code of conduct, Chief Minister Banerjee has announced the payout of dearness allowance arrears and hiked the honorarium to priests and muezzins in the state by Rs 500 a month.

This time, her government faces 15 years of anti-incumbency and must counter questions on corruption and law and order.

BJP's Big Push For Power

The BJP, which won 77 seats in the 294-member Assembly, will be going all-out for a breakthrough in this election. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead the party's campaign, and a galaxy of top BJP leaders are likely to address rallies in Bengal in the run-up to the polls.

The party named Samik Bhattacharya, Rajya Sabha MP and a BJP veteran, as its state chief last July. Besides prepping a strong campaign, Bhattacharya will need to address infighting within the state party unit and counter the Trinamool's "outsider" pitch -- a political weapon Banerjee has used in every election to paint the BJP as a party alien to Bengal's cultural ethos.

The BJP's key planks in this election will be targeting Trinamool over alleged appeasement of minorities, corruption, law and order and refusal to implement central schemes in Bengal.

The SIR Effect

A key talking point in this election in Bengal is the recently held Special Intensive Revision of voter lists. The Trinamool, which even went to court over the exercise, has accused the BJP of using the Election Commission to snatch away voting rights of legitimate voters. The BJP, on the other hand, has accused the Trinamool of protecting illegal immigrants for political objectives.

Names of as many as 63 lakh voters have been deleted in the exercise. For context, this is more than the difference in total votes the Trinamool and the BJP got in the 2021 state polls. This effectively means that the SIR exercise could potentially have a massive impact on the outcome of the election. This explains Banerjee's strong resistance and her war cry against the Election Commission. The Commission, however, has maintained that it's a routine exercise to clean the voter lists.

Corruption, Crime Talking Points

The BJP has repeatedly targeted the Trinamool government over corruption. The state government's big setback in the teachers' recruitment case, when the Supreme Court scrapped the appointment of 25,000 government teachers, will feature prominently in BJP leaders' speeches. Another front on which rivals will try to corner the Mamata Banerjee government is the state's law-and-order situation.

The rape-murder of a 34-year-old doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in August 2024 had led to nationwide outrage, and the opposition will leave no stone unturned to remind the people of the RG Kar incident and similar cases of gender violence in various parts of the state.

Trinamool, on the other hand, claims that the state government has responded promptly to each of these crimes and accuses the BJP of politicising sensitive issues for political mileage.

How Bengal Numbers Stack Up

In the 2021 Assembly polls, the Trinamool Congress won 215 seats in the 294-member Assembly. The BJP finished a distant second, winning 77 seats. While the Trinamool marginally improved on its 2016 tally, the BJP had made a huge jump from winning three seats in 2016 to becoming the main opposition in 2021.

The CPM, which ruled Bengal for three decades, failed to win a single seat. The Congress, which was in alliance with the Left, also drew a blank.